#Two women charged with beating Wisconsin lawmaker during protest

Two women accused of assaulting a Wisconsin state senator as he took photos of a crowd that toppled two statues during a protest last month have been arrested, police said.

State Sen. Tim Carpenter, a Democrat from Milwaukee, was attacked in Madison on June 24 as he pointed his phone at a group of protesters who tore down two statues on Capitol grounds. He was repeatedly punched and kicked in the head and later required surgery for his wounds, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

“I don’t know what happened … all I did was stop and take a picture … and the next thing I’m getting five, six punches, getting kicked in the head,” Carpenter told the newspaper last month.

Two people within the “angry mob” that allegedly attacked Carpenter, identified by police as Samantha Hamer, 26, and Kerida O’Reilly, 33, both of Madison, surrendered to cops Monday. Both are now facing charges of substantial battery as a party to a crime and robbery with use of force as a party to a crime, police said Monday.

“Thanks to help from the community, the case detective was able to identify the two persons of interest,” police said in a statement. “Both turned themselves in today.”

Monday’s statement did not identify Carpenter by name, but Madison police said a politician reported to cops that he decided to use his phone to capture the protests just before he was assaulted.

“As he did, three people rushed toward him, saying something about his phone,” police said. “One knocked it out of his hand. He said he was then sucker punched. He fell to the ground and was battered by several people.”

A nearby reporter told police roughly 10 people proceeded to kick and punch Carpenter as he “tried to explain” that he was an ally to the demonstrators, police said.

The assault took place just after a Molotov cocktail was tossed into a government office in Madison, where protesters also tore down two statues, including one of Col. Hans Christian Heg, an abolitionist who died while fighting for the Union in the Civil War.

Carpenter told police he felt “lightheaded, stunned and dazed” after the assault, but declined to go to a hospital. A paramedic treated him on scene before he later decided to go to a hospital, police said.

Carpenter then had surgery for his injuries about a week later, the Journal Sentinel reports.